An evil conspiracy

Does anyone else get the feeling that some things are really a lot more difficult than they should be?

My dryer hasn't been working properly. I hardly ever use the thing, but on occasion it would be handy to have it working. so when Dad was visiting, he pulled it down off the wall, undid the back and discovered the problem was simply a broken belt. Easy to fix...or so I thought.

So off we trundled to Bunnings. The home of all things fix-it...or so I thought. Apparently they don't stock large appliance repair items.

Then off to do some grocery shopping, where we think it might be a good idea to stop into Harvey Norman, where they sell large appliances, including the same brand dryer as mine. Surely they have an idea of how to service what they sell...or so I thought. Apparently not. The helpful salesman did refer me to a repair place at a particular address on Parramatta Rd in Ashfield. He couldn't actually tell me what it was called, but he looked like he knew what he was talking about so I believed him.

I didn't get a chance to go to Ashfield for a week or so (I'm a busy person, OK) but thought that I'd take advantage of the bank holiday and head on over. The mission started quite well, and the place was easy to find and even had its own parking (although using the same narrow ramp as both entry and exit to an underground car-park seems a little risky to me).

So in I go, clutching my broken dryer belt tightly in my hot little hand. Surely these guys would be able to help me. All the signs say promising things like "appliance repairs", "washing machines, dryers, fridges and freezers" and "Simpson, Hoover, Electrolux". Well, I was wrong about this one too. They told me to call the manufacturer directly.

So I left it a couple of hours, since I didn't really have a phone book handy and nobody at that place offered me the number. During a stop off at the post office a bit later that day (ooh...I left that one off the previous post. And actually I think its probably worth its very own post for the dramas that took) Sandy was waiting around whilst I tried to organise an e-tag, so she looked up the phone number for me.

So I rang up, during the middle of the day on an uncapped mobile (I no longer have a land line due to the fact that I almost never use on these days). Tangent - did you know that Simpson, Electrolux, kelvinator, chef, dishlex, westinghouse & hoover are all the same company???? Talk about the illusion of choice! and waited on the line for over 5 minutes before giving up and deciding to ring on Tuesday.

I rang today and the lady was very helpful. "Yes, you can order a new part. You can get it from one of our spare parts suppliers" of course, none of whom are conveniently located for my neck of the woods. The alternative was for her to order it for me. The part costs $15.99. The cost of sending it out to me would be $15.00.

Guess I'm up for another drive on the weekend.

J.